Mama’s little Obama girl

I couldn’t be happier with the interest in politics that Cera has developed over the past several weeks. And while I don’t know if she’ll remember the living history lesson that she’s been experiencing 10 years from now, I really hope that she will. Because this could be one of the most important elections in her lifetime.

I’m trying my best to be straightforward with Cera when she asks questions like “What’s the difference between a Democrat and a Republican?” and “Why do people vote?”, but I know that the conversations she’s heard between her liberal parents during this election season have had an impact on her.

Because when her class held its own election last Tuesday, and John McCain won by just one vote, she made sure to let me know that that vote hadn’t been hers.

“I voted for Obama,” she told me with a proud smile.

This morning, as we walked to her school together before I headed next door to the middle school to vote, Cera was full of questions about why I was voting for Barack Obama instead of John McCain. I explained to her what I could, trying to talk about health care and the economy in the simplest terms possible, while staying away from topics like abortion, which I didn’t feel were appropriate for a 5-year-old.

But I also tried to explain that it’s not wrong for people to have different views. We talked about how some of our family members would probably vote for McCain, and that there was nothing wrong with that decision if it’s what they felt fit their values.

When she got in the car after school, the first words out of Cera’s mouth were, “Have they picked a president yet?”

“No,” I replied. “We probably won’t know who won until late tonight, after you’ve gone to bed.”

“Well, will you tell me first thing in the morning?” she asked excitedly.

I can’t wait to do just that.

Like this:

LikeLoading...

Related

Responses

It’s awesome that Cera is so aware of this election and *stuff* surrounding it … and also cool that y’all take the time to explain your points of view to her. Javi is also really into the election. He asked if he could stay up tonight to watch the returns come in. 🙂